Is the word "pornography" offensive?

AARRRGH

To cut a long story short:

The IEDR think the word pornography is offensive. As a result, I cannot register this domain, even though I own the business name "pornography".

In effect, the IEDR are saying the Companies Registration Office, i.e. the Government, and every dictionary in the world, are wrong: pornography is an offensive word.

I've taken legal action against the IEDR about this, and I lost. The reason I lost was because the IEDR are not a company nor a Government body: they can make up whatever rules they want.

Does anyone else think this is incredibly stupid?

Latchy

Yes, pornography is just a word like any other word to describe something

AARRRGH

latchyco wrote: »

Yes, pornography is just a word like any other word to describe something

Why are they allowed continue their stupid "oh the word pornography is a curse word" stance?

If it were the 1950's I'd understand, but now?

Are the management of the IEDR right-wing Christians?

It makes no sense.

As a (immature) protest, I set up P.ORN.IE - NOT WORK SAFE WHATSOEVER which proves they cannot keep legal porn out of Ireland.

It depresses me.

Dave147

Wow, I agree for one, ****ing prudes.. Now if you wanted analdominatrixincestingpornography.ie maybe not, but pornography is an acceptable english word! Bloody ridiculous.

AARRRGH

sexualassault.ie is allowed.

Ridiculous.

Dave147

Lol dude, love the site! I have criminal amounts of porn, I'm a connoisseur and the word 'pornography' itself is probably the least offensive word to do with sex and porn. Rename it doublepenetration.ie :P

AARRRGH

What other word do they want me to use? Dirty-pictures.ie?

Their rules state they are only allowed base judgement on the word not the content.

It is outrageous that they are allowed stop a business man like me from having a non-offensive, Government endorsed word as a domain.

EKRIUQ

Dirty-pictures.ie?

cool

yo dubindude you have sex.ie , try not to be the porn king of Ireland (unless you have free subs) and a beta version which I will give a site review if you want

AARRRGH

Namesco wrote: »

yo dubindule you have sex.ie , try not to be the porn king of Ireland (unless you have free subs)

It is my destiny to be the Irish porn king. It's going to happen.

It's just annoying that I have to play this retarded game with the IEDR. They know they're going to have to eventually cop on. Why drag it out?

Esel

How the hell did boards.ie get approved? Don't they know what the word means?

EKRIUQ

AARRRGH wrote: »

It is my destiny to be the Irish porn king. It's going to happen.

Don't forget me when you do

Esel

Namesco wrote: »

Don't forget me when you do (or if you need a wad developer)

FTFY.

mneylon

It's a stupid and inane rule.

To make matters even more annoying they won't implement a proper blocklist, which means that you can apply for domain names that they have no intention of ever allowing you to register.

Of course you can get around it easily by choosing other words that they don't find "offensive", but it's a really silly game to have to play. If the rule wasn't so subjective and ambiguous I wouldn't mind, but whose morals are they trying to protect?

Other ccTLDs, such as .us, have very clear rules on which words they will not allow, though in the case of the .us ccTLD their source is kind of amusing:
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/filthywords.html

cgarvey

Agreed. The debate shouldn't be about what is offensive or not offensive, it should be about why it is so subjective with no published guidelines / ground rules.

AARRRGH

During my legal action against the IEDR we proved neither the words porn nor pornography are offensive.

I'd love to know what's going through the decision makers head.

mneylon

AARRRGH wrote: »

During my legal action against the IEDR we proved neither the words porn nor pornography are offensive.

Hardly surprising.

Was the decision published?

If so how can they justify ignoring it?

AARRRGH

blacknight wrote: »

Hardly surprising.

Was the decision published?

If so how can they justify ignoring it?

The end result of my case was the IEDR can do whatever they want, as they are the final decision maker.

There was also some ambiguity about what jurisdiction they're under, i.e. if I took them to the high court, the judge might say he has no authority over them.

Things will have to change when ComReg finally take them under their wing, but until then, they can do as they please!

Eoin

AARRRGH wrote: »

It is my destiny to be the Irish porn king. It's going to happen.

Will you go for the Ron Jeremy or Hugh Hefner look? If you keep the facial hair and get the red dressing gown, it could be a good halfway house. Sexy time.

Gordon

You should get http://porn.ograph.ie too!

Eoin

Gordon wrote: »

You should get http://porn.ograph.ie too!

That's a good one!

AARRRGH

eoin_s wrote: »

Will you go for the Ron Jeremy or Hugh Hefner look? If you keep the facial hair and get the red dressing gown, it could be a good halfway house. Sexy time.

I know you have a semi thinking about that!

Gordon wrote: »

You should get http://porn.ograph.ie too!

What about http://creamp.ie or http://bukkak.ie

Gordon

! I bet you're thinking about it

Liam Byrne

It's fairly crazy alright - sure even the word "paddy" is offensive if it's said in a particular way / context!

And that's the nub of the issue - any word shouldn't be annoying/offensive in itself - it's how it's used (funnily enough, that probably applies to the subject matter of the OP's word, too!)

I'd be more likely to ban the stupid "text-speak" domains - e.g. the ones ending in "4u", or the advertising campaign ones which aren't specifically related to a company or brand name - e.g. if Tayto wanted "theresalwaysone.ie" or L'Oreal wanted "youreworthit.ie"....

AARRRGH

Sure you may as well ban every domain then!

I'm not sure you can compare the racial slur "Paddy" with the word "Pornography"...

Esel

Go for gabhal.ie

Michael-O'Neill

www.loseyourvirginit.ie

Liam Byrne

AARRRGH wrote: »

Sure you may as well ban every domain then!

I'm not sure you can compare the racial slur "Paddy" with the word "Pornography"...

That's kinda my point! They'd probably ALLOW "paddy.ie"!!!! :rolleyes:

miju

they have allowed paddy.ie for Paddys Whiskey

one would wonder if they would allow the word pornography in a different context. for example say pornographyaddictioncentre.ie in which case if they did you'd easily get pornography.ie

Liam Byrne

miju wrote: »

they have allowed paddy.ie for Paddys Whiskey

That's my point proven, so. The WORD isn't offensive, but it's a word that CAN be offensive DEPENDING on context and usage, but it's allowed.

AARRRGH

I can't think of any situations where the word pornography might be offensive. Can it be used as an insult or slang or anything like that? I don't think so?

Stab*City

totally crap rules again.. but hey what do you expect from a pig only a grunt!! too late guys i am the irish porn king!!

Liam Byrne

Do something along the lines of what The Script did on their album - see if you can register www."If You See Kay".ie !!

AlwaysAmber

We had a customer who was refused milf.ie a couple of weeks ago.

I have no problem with censorship, but I do have major problems with the IEDR's implementation of their policy.

They refuse names under this section of their registration policy:

3.4: The proposed domain name must not be offensive or contrary to public policy or generally accepted principles of morality.

Every time we get a name refused, we ask them what public policy they are referring to and what qualifications/training the IEDR hostmaster has to decide what the 'generally accepted principles of morality' are.... they've never once responded to these questions.

AARRRGH

I would be ok with some sort of censorship if it was based on genuinely offensive words like c unt, f uck, and racist words.

During my legal case we proved conclusively that the word pornography is not offensive. For example, Irish laws which make use of the word, its use by the rape crisis centre, every dictionary stating it is not a curse word or slang, etc.

It was accepted it was not offensive or against generally accepted principles of morality or against public policy, so I think the reason they cannot explain why they are stopping certain domains is because their decision has nothing to do with rule 3.4, but rather to do with someone's personal dislike of nudity and sex.

It depresses me that one backwards individual is forcing his personal viewpoint on an entire country.

ComReg need to take over the IEDR asap. If you can, please write a letter to Eamon Ryan, Minister for Communications.

Eoin

On the plus side, www.fap.ie is available!

miju

AARRRGH wrote: »

It was accepted it was not offensive or against generally accepted principles of morality or against public policy, so I think the reason they cannot explain why they are stopping certain domains is because their decision has nothing to do with rule 3.4, but rather to do with someone's personal dislike of nudity and sex.

It depresses me that one backwards individual is forcing his personal viewpoint on an entire country.

still think you should go with my idea though bearing the above in mind maybe try register www.againstpornography.ie

If they accept then you know the rest

AARRRGH

miju wrote: »

still think you should go with my idea though bearing the above in mind maybe try register www.againstpornography.ie

If they accept then you know the rest

Well they gave www.sexualassault.ie to the Rape Crisis Centre. When we picked them up on this point their response was "but they're the Rape Crisis Centre".

That says it all really.

PS Nice avatar

Phier

Congrats on making it to /.

http://www.sex.ie/mod/groups/topicposts.php?topic=158&group_guid=155

,8,1

Nothing wrong with a bit of community decency guidelines.

Just because the US Supreme Court believes in porn on public domains, does not mean that everyone else has to follow suit.

I would be ok with some sort of censorship if it was based on genuinely offensive words like c unt, f uck, and racist words.

Hypocrite.

Phier

What community are you speaking of?

,8,1

The wider community, obviously.

The same way the wider community does not approve of certain actions or language.

Posters such as the OP thinks that porn should be given a free pass re community standards.

Phier

Correct me if i'm wrong but the link above tells me that the IEDR are only accountable to themselves, and since they're supposed to be an independent non-governing body, the community you speak of must be Irish internet users, so where is the public feedback showing that they're acting on our behalf and not of their own accord?

Also, it seems you've missed the point. The OP is talking about certain words being deemed offensive regardless of their content, which is quite simply barking mad, whether it's the majority's viewpoint or not, and i suspect it's not.

AARRRGH

Phier wrote: »

Congrats on making it to /.

http://www.sex.ie/mod/groups/topicposts.php?topic=158&group_guid=155

Thanks.

AARRRGH wrote:

I would be ok with some sort of censorship if it was based on genuinely offensive words like c unt, f uck, and racist words.

,8,1 wrote: »

Hypocrite.

How am I a hypocrite? F uck, c unt and racist words are (according to dictionaries, etc.) offensive words.

Pornography and porn are not offensive words.

Surely you can see the difference?

Btw, you should think long and hard why you think nudity, sex and arousal are undecent.

AARRRGH

AARRRGH wrote: »

Btw, you should think long and hard why you think nudity, sex and arousal are undecent.

Or even worse, think long and hard why you think WORDS which suggest nudity, sex and arousal are undecent and should be banned.

Eoin

,8,1 wrote: »

Nothing wrong with a bit of community decency guidelines.

Just because the US Supreme Court believes in porn on public domains, does not mean that everyone else has to follow suit.

To clarify, are you against the content as well as the domain name?

Dades

I would have thought that people find pornography offensive because of the nudity...

Didn't stop nude.ie however!

The whole thing is a bit "Irish".

Eoin

^ That's work safe by the way for anyone else who was in two minds about clicking it.